A senior News Corp Australia executive has defended the company\u2019s platforming of climate science deniers, saying its news outlets were not part of a \u201cdenial machine\u201d spreading misinformation.<\/p>\n
News Corp Australia\u2019s executive chair, Michael Miller, told a Senate inquiry into climate and energy misinformation there was no coordination across the organisation\u2019s news outlets to feature voices sceptical of climate action or Australia\u2019s current goal to reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions.<\/p>\n
The chair of the committee, Greens senator Peter Whish-Wilson, asked Miller \u201cwhy do you platform climate sceptics\u201d and said News Corp \u201c[relies] on lots of opinion pieces from lots of people that are climate deniers\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI hope you are not suggesting that we should censor them?\u201d Miller responded.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis country has a great democracy and healthy debate and to answer your question there are people with differing opinions to your own but that doesn\u2019t mean they can\u2019t have a voice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Miller said the company was \u201cexpressing a range of views\u201d and \u201cto say that we platform climate deniers, I would need more detail, but we need to be able to have a debate in this country and that is what we do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Whish-Wilson said several submissions to the inquiry had claimed News Corp Australia was part of a \u201cclimate denial machine\u201d that included PR companies, thinktanks and consultancies.<\/p>\n
Asked if News Corp was part of that machine, Miller said: \u201cNo. We are part of a debate machine maybe, but not a denial machine.\u201d<\/p>\n
The News Corp-owned Sky News Australia has previously been identified as a global hub for climate misinformation<\/a> in analysis published by UK thinktank the Institute for Strategic Dialogue in 2022. The company has rejected that analysis.<\/p>\n In one submission to the inquiry, Climate Action Against Disinformation \u2013 a coalition of groups working to combat false narratives on climate and energy \u2013 said readers of some News Corp publications were more likely to accept misinformation than those who read other outlets.<\/p>\n A submission from not-for-profit group Climate Communications Australia detailed analysis of the 22 most-read online news outlets.<\/p>\n Those containing the highest degree of misinformation, the submission claimed, were News Corp Australia outlets, including The Australian and Sky News.<\/p>\n Asked by the Labor senator Michelle Ananda-Rajah to respond to the analysis, Miller said: \u201cHow that report defines misinformation I would challenge. An opinion someone disagrees with is not misinformation.\u201d<\/p>\n Campbell Reid, News Corp Australia\u2019s group executive on corporate affairs, policy and government relations, also defended the company\u2019s reporting of the 2019 and 2020 black summer bushfires.<\/p>\n One story in The Australian, shared by Donald Trump Jr<\/a>, suggested arson was a major factor in the fires. The Australian Press Council said after an inquiry the article was not misleading<\/a>.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/a><\/p>\n Amanda Meade’s weekly diary on the latest in Australian media, free every Friday<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com<\/a> to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy<\/a>. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Service<\/a> apply.<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n One expert has said the story helped fuel misinformation around the world that arson \u2013 rather than climate breakdown \u2013 was the major factor behind the fires.<\/p>\n